Left in the lurch

Bangkok Post and Agencies

Day Six of the cyclone disaster: The junta still has not even responded to a request that it waive visa requirements for relief agencies. The senior US diplomat in Burma and the exile government in Thailand said separately the death toll is likely 100,000, and the first hungry crowds of survivors stormed village shops, desperate for food.

International relief agencies are still waiting for permission to enter Burma so they can take much-needed aid to hundreds of thousands of victims of Cyclone Nargis.

The weekend cyclone left millions homeless and without food and water.

The government says more than 22,000 people have been killed and more than 40,000 people are missing.

More than 100,000 people need urgent humanitarian assistance.

American diplomat Shari Villarosa, who heads the US embassy in Rangoon, said the number of dead could eventually exceed 100,000 because safe food and water were scarce and unsanitary conditions widespread.

The situation is "increasingly horrendous," she said in a telephone call to reporters. "There is a very real risk of disease outbreaks."

Aung So, director of the office of the country's exile government in Mae Sot in northern Thailand, also said "we are assuming that at least 100,000 have died."

A few shops reopened in the Irrawaddy delta, but they were quickly overwhelmed by desperate people, said Paul Risley, a spokesman for the U.N. World Food Program in Bangkok, Thailand, quoting his agency's workers in the area.

"Fistfights are breaking out," he said.

A foreign resident of Rangoon who returned to the city from the delta area said people were drinking coconut water because there was no safe drinking water. He said many people were on boats using blankets as sails. Of course he could not allow use of his name, because the military dictators threaten to punish any one who talks.

The UN asked the government in Burma to waive visas for relief workers assembled in Bangkok so they can begin their journey to Burma, said Rachid Khalikov, an official of the UN emergency relief department.

"So far, there are no instructions for visas in Bangkok," Mr Khalikov said.

International charity Save the Children said Burma authorities had given aid workers no word on when visas would be granted.

"We have no idea of what progress, if any, will be made on visa management," its Bangkok-based spokesman Dan Collinson said after meeting relief agencies at UN offices here.

"We're frustrated. At the moment we still have a reasonable amount of capacity in-country, but that's going to run out quickly," he said.

"I think the maximum amount of pressure is being applied at the highest level of UN discussions."

Burma's junta is also barring foreign journalists from entering the country and has expelled one BBC reporter, state media said. BBC Asia correspondent Andrew Harding was stopped by Burmese immigration officials at Rangoon International Airport from entering the country on Monday, and sent back to Thailand, state-run MRTV reported.

Richard Horsey of the UN disaster response office said Burma's junta knows it needs outside help, but it must act now to remove red tape delaying a massive international aid operation.

With large swathes of the Irrawaddy delta under water and so many people in need of help, the disaster presents a "major logistical challenge", said Mr Horsey. "The government recognises this is an unprecedented emergency for Burma and it will require a huge relief effort with a big international component," he said.

"Visa applications have been in for 24 to 48 hours," Mr Horsey said. "Now is the time that movement is expected on that and we do look to the authorities to issue the necessary clearances."

In Thailand, Woradet Veerawekin, deputy director-general of the Department of Information in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn ordered her personal secretary Khunying Araya Piboonnakarin to check what basic necessities were in demand, so that relief could be granted.

Meanwhile, Burmese officials have denied they will close the border checkpoint of Tachilek during the country's charter referendum, which will take place in some areas tomorrow and on Saturday. They said the route was important for transporting food and medicines to victims of the cyclone.

The junta decided to postpone the referendum from Saturday to May 24 in five cities, including the former capital of Rangoon, which was hit by the storm.

Meanwhile, permanent secretary for the Public Health Ministry Prat Boonyawongwiroj said people wanting to donate drinking water or food to help the Burmese could take items to the ministry, the Food and Drug Administration, the air force or the Thai Red Cross.
(Source-http://www.bangkokpost.com/topstories/topstories.php?id=127541)